Birth of Rob Roy~The Scottish Robin Hood

Birth of Rob Roy~The Scottish Robin Hood

For centuries the ‘Wild MacGregors’ were the plague of the Trossachs in Scotland.

The Wild MacGregors were cattle rustlers and brigands.
They earned their name and living through ‘cattle lifting’ and extracting money from people.

In exchange, the Wild MacGregors offered people protection from thieves.

The most famous ~ or infamous ~ member of the clan was Rob Roy – Robert MacGregor.

Rob MacGregor was born on 7th March 1671 at Glengyle at the head of Loch Katrine in the Trossachs.

He was the third son of clan chief Donald Glas MacGregor of Glengyle.

His mother Mary was a Campbell, and it was from her that he inherited his red hair.
This led to his nickname, Rob Ruadh ~ Gaelic for red ~ which was later anglicised into Rob Roy.

Rob Roy MacGregor was a soldier, businessman, cattle-rustler and outlaw.

But above all he was a folk hero, a latter day Robin Hood.

In January 1693 he married his cousin Mary Helen MacGregor of Comar, and they subsequently had four sons: James Mor, Ranald, Coll, and Robin Oig.

In the early eighteenth century, Rob Roy MacGregor had established a flourishing protection racket.
He was charging farmers an average 5% of their annual rent, to ensure that their cattle remained safe.

He had complete control over the other raiders in Argyll, Stirling and Perth, and could guarantee that any cattle stolen from his customers would be returned to them.

Those who did not pay regretted it …as he had them stripped of all they possessed.

Rob Roy was not the sort of man to argue with!

Rob Roy’s early days were spent peacefully as a drover, buying and selling Highland cattle under the patronage of the Duke of Montrose.

But 1712 was not a good year, and Rob Roy lost most of his capital in a slump in the cattle market.

However he was not deterred, and absconded with £1000 that had been invested in the business by various chieftains, and thus became a cattle thief.

He stole most of the cattle from his earlier benefactor, the Duke of Montrose.

Rob Roy was accused of fraudulent bankruptcy, and in 1715 he was to be found trailing in the wake of the rebel army of the deposed Stuarts at Sheriffmuir, waiting patiently for any booty that he could lay his hands on.

The end came when he had to surrender to the Duke of Atholl in 1717, but he managed to escape, probably through the protection of the Duke of Argyll.

However, Rob Roy was eventually caught and imprisoned again.

On the brink of being transported to Barbados in 1727, he received a pardon from King George I and decided, as he was not getting any younger ~ he was now in his mid-fifties, and it was time to settle down.

He lived the rest of his life as a peaceful, law-abiding citizen… well, apart from the odd duel or two.

Rob Roy MacGregor died on 28th December 1734 in Balquhidder Glen, and was buried in Balquhidder Kirkyard.

The original grave markers of Rob Roy, his wife and two of his four sons, has been embellished by a later rail which carries a plaque incorrectly aging Rob Roy as 70 when he died ~ he was 63.

Rob Roy’s story has grown further since his death.

Sir Walter Scott wrote the novel, “Rob Roy” in 1818, and he was the subject of two Hollywood films in the 1900s.

In 2002 a new unofficial long distance footpath called the Rob Roy Way, was set up to link together many places that featured in Rob Roy’s life.

??????? Andrew Smith / Rob Roy statue, Stirling